If you are looking for safe, fun and family-friendly activities this April, look no further than Sky Meadows State Park. A full afternoon of egg-themed programs await you on Saturday, April 8 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eggs will be popping up all over the park’s Historic Area.

We take good care of our flock here on the farm.

Our flock of free-range Barred Plymouth Rock hens are always eager to greet our visitors. On the day of Egg-stravaganza!, the hens will be especially pleased with the egg-stra attention from visitors taking a “Chicken Walk” to observe their coop, roosts and laying boxes up close. We take good care of our flock here on the farm, and that care shows in the quality of brown free-range eggs produced each day. The eggs are gathered, cleaned and packaged for sale by the dozen in our Visitor Center, and sell out more quickly than the flock can replace them. 

Proceeds from the egg sales benefit the Friends of Sky Meadows (FOSK) which supports park programming. This is one of the aspects of our working farm that continues a long tradition of agricultural history. No fresh eggs for sale in the Visitor Center? You can still support our hard-working hens by putting a quarter in the chicken feed dispenser, to give them a treat. They are sure to come running up to you, full of friendly egg-spectation, and will even eat right out of your open hand.

They are sure to come running up to you, full of friendly egg-spectation.

We will also be offering our always egg-citing Geocaching Adventures, for visitors to utilize their navigational skills with the aid of their personal GPS devices or mobile phones with GPS capability. This is a great way to introduce yourself and your family to the fun of geocaching. If, after finding one of our geocaches, you are interested in more Geocaching Adventures, be sure to stop by the park Visitor Center. There you can grab a bookmark with waypoint coordinates for all three Sky Meadows geocaches, each with a unique theme.

Look for clues from a fictional character named Harriet, a girl from the 1840s.

For a more traditional scavenger hunt, join us in the park’s Historic Area to look for clues from a fictional character named Harriet, a girl from the 1840s. Kids and kids-at-heart will enjoy the exploration along with the discovery of what life was like for children in the 19th century. Life at Mount Bleak, the farm that eventually became Sky Meadows State Park, was simpler in many ways. However, farm life in the 1840s was not without egg-stravagance, as you will learn from Harriet.

Learn all about Eastern Blue Birds and how they begin life as an egg.

To discover how birds begin their natural life cycle as an egg (or ovum) stop by our exhibit on the Bluebird Monitoring Program. Members of the Shenandoah Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalists will be happy to share their eggs-pertise on bluebird nesting practices, and the initiatives implemented by volunteer bluebird monitors at the park. They will egg-splain how the park’s bluebird houses are built to the specifications of the Virginia Bluebird Society, and how they are maintained and monitored to protect our native bluebirds.

These baby bluebirds are eggs-amples of the new life and rejuvenation that come in the springtime.

As you can see, it is no eggs-aggeration, when we say that eggs will be popping up all over the Historic Area of Sky Meadows State Park. It is one way to celebrate the egg-splosion of new life and rejuvenation that comes in the springtime. Alright, enough with the egg-cruciating puns. This blog post is ova.